Alumni interview

Brisa Ceccon Rocha

Complete name: Brisa Ceccon Rocha
Nationality: Brazilian and Mexican
Country of work: Mexico
Institution: Iniciativa Ciudadana para la Promoción de la Cultura del Diálogo A.C. (Citizens’ Initiative for the Promotion of Dialogue Culture-NGO).
Position: Coordinator of the project “Youth and Migration”, as well as promoter of NGO’s diplomacy.
Course taken at Training for International Diplomats: International Futures, 2009.


Can you tell us a bit about your career path and your motivation to follow this profession?

I was born in Brazil, but I have been living in Mexico since I was 13 years old. Belonging to two different cultures –both in Latin America- has had a big impact inmy personal and professional life, reason why I decided to study International Relationsand to work with “social engineering”. For me, being a social engineer is about designing and building different structures of social transformation, as
well as bridges of understanding and cooperation between different sectors, nationalities, political views and economic conditions.
Right now I am working with young leaders of Central America, Mexico and United States and trying to construct with them an advocacy network around the challenges and opportunities of migration, development and human rights in the region from a comprehensive perspective. Besides, I promote NGO’s diplomacy (diplomacia ciudadana in Spanish) and civil society efforts to participate in the discussion and construction of international agendas. Working for the civil society sector is very challenging and motivating and the same time, and I hope I can share some of my experience with the participants of the conference in order to build bridges of cooperation between the civil society, diplomatic and academic sectors of the region.

 

If you hadn’t followed this career, what other profession could you see yourself in and why?

I think I would have been a photojournalist, because I believe photography is a very powerful toll to built bridges of understanding between different worlds and realities.

 

How would you be willing to participate in our network?

I would like to share some of the experiences and perspectives of civil society in the construction of international agendas, and to highlight its importance for global governance. On the other hand, I am very much willing to learn from the experiences of my diplomats and researchers colleagues, and to see the ways in which we could create a governance of diplomacy network.

 

These interviews are the opinion of the interviewed Alumni and do not represent the views of Training for International Diplomats or the Federal Foreign Office. Training for International Diplomats and the Federal Foreign Office are not responsible for the content of these interviews.